Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 33:2
Context33:2 He said:
The Lord came from Sinai
and revealed himself 1 to Israel 2 from Seir.
He appeared in splendor 3 from Mount Paran,
and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. 4
With his right hand he gave a fiery law 5 to them.
Genesis 21:21
Context21:21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran. 6 His mother found a wife for him from the land of Egypt. 7
Numbers 10:12
Context10:12 So the Israelites set out 8 on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud settled in the wilderness of Paran.
Numbers 12:16
Context12:16 After that the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.
Numbers 13:3
Context13:3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command 9 of the Lord. All of them were leaders 10 of the Israelites.
Numbers 13:26
Context13:26 They came back 11 to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. 12 They reported 13 to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.
Numbers 13:1
Context13:1 14 The Lord spoke 15 to Moses:
Numbers 25:1
Context25:1 16 When 17 Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality 18 with the daughters of Moab.
Habakkuk 3:3
Context3:3 God comes 19 from Teman, 20
the sovereign 21 one from Mount Paran. 22 Selah. 23
His splendor covers the skies, 24
his glory 25 fills the earth.
[33:2] 1 tn Or “rose like the sun” (NCV, TEV).
[33:2] 2 tc Heb “to him.” The LXX reads “to us” (לָנוּ [lanu] for לָמוֹ [lamo]), the reading of the MT is acceptable since it no doubt has in mind Israel as a collective singular.
[33:2] 3 tn Or “he shone forth” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[33:2] 4 tc With slight alteration (מִמְרִבַת קָדֵשׁ [mimrivat qadesh] for the MT’s מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ [merivvot qodesh]) the translation would be “from Meribah Kadesh” (cf. NAB, NLT; see Deut 32:51). However, the language of holy war in the immediate context favors the reading of the MT, which views the Lord as accompanied by angelic hosts.
[33:2] 5 tc The mispointed Hebrew term אֵשְׁדָּת (’eshdat) should perhaps be construed as אֵשְׁהַת (’eshhat) with Smr.
[21:21] 6 sn The wilderness of Paran is an area in the east central region of the Sinai peninsula, northeast from the traditional site of Mt. Sinai and with the Arabah and the Gulf of Aqaba as its eastern border.
[21:21] 7 tn Heb “And his mother took for him a wife from the land of Egypt.”
[10:12] 8 sn The verb is the same as the noun: “they journeyed on their journeyings.” This underscores the point of their continual traveling.
[13:26] 11 tn The construction literally has “and they went and they entered,” which may be smoothed out as a verbal hendiadys, the one verb modifying the other.
[13:26] 12 sn Kadesh is Ain Qadeis, about 50 miles (83 km) south of Beer Sheba. It is called Kadesh-barnea in Num 32:8.
[13:26] 13 tn Heb “They brought back word”; the verb is the Hiphil preterite of שׁוּב (shuv).
[13:1] 14 sn Chapter 13 provides the names of the spies sent into the land (vv. 1-16), their instructions (vv. 17-20), their activities (vv. 21-25), and their reports (vv. 26-33). It is a chapter that serves as a good lesson on faith, for some of the spies walked by faith, and some by sight.
[13:1] 15 tn The verse starts with the vav (ו) consecutive on the verb: “and….”
[25:1] 16 sn Chapter 25 tells of Israel’s sins on the steppes of Moab, and God’s punishment. In the overall plan of the book, here we have another possible threat to God’s program, although here it comes from within the camp (Balaam was the threat from without). If the Moabites could not defeat them one way, they would try another. The chapter has three parts: fornication (vv. 1-3), God’s punishment (vv. 4-9), and aftermath (vv. 10-18). See further G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 105-21; and S. C. Reif, “What Enraged Phinehas? A Study of Numbers 25:8,” JBL 90 (1971): 200-206.
[25:1] 17 tn This first preterite is subordinated to the next as a temporal clause; it is not giving a parallel action, but the setting for the event.
[25:1] 18 sn The account apparently means that the men were having sex with the Moabite women. Why the men submitted to such a temptation at this point is hard to say. It may be that as military heroes the men took liberties with the women of occupied territories.
[3:3] 19 tn In vv. 3-15 there is a mixture of eleven prefixed verbal forms (without vav [ו] consecutive or with vav conjunctive), sixteen suffixed forms, and three prefixed forms with vav consecutive. All of the forms are best taken as indicating completed action from the speaker’s standpoint (all of the prefixed forms being regarded as preterites). The forms could be translated with the past tense, but this would be misleading, for this is not a mere recital of God’s deeds in Israel’s past history. Habakkuk here describes, in terms reminiscent of past theophanies, his prophetic vision of a future theophany (see v. 7, “I saw”). From the prophet’s visionary standpoint the theophany is “as good as done.” This translation uses the English present tense throughout these verses to avoid misunderstanding. A similar strategy is followed by the NEB; in contrast note the NIV and NRSV, which consistently use past tenses throughout the section, and the NASB, which employs present tenses in vv. 3-5 and mostly past tenses in vv. 6-15.
[3:3] 20 sn Teman was a city or region in southern Edom.
[3:3] 21 tn Or traditionally, “holy one.” The term קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy [one]”) here refers to God’s sovereignty. See v. 3b.
[3:3] 22 sn The precise location of Mount Paran is unknown, but like Teman it was located to the southeast of Israel. Habakkuk saw God marching from the direction of Sinai.
[3:3] 23 tn Selah. The meaning of this musical term (which also appears in vv. 9, 13, and in the Psalms as well) is unknown.
[3:3] 25 tn Heb “praise.” This could mean that the earth responds in praise as God’s splendor is observed in the skies. However, the Hebrew term תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) can stand by metonymy for what prompts it (i.e., fame, glory, deeds).
